Day 87 – Old Station & Hat Creek Rim

7/10/18

Miles: 1369.6 to 1390.8

Trail Miles: 21.2

Miles Hiked: 22.6

Last night I’d finally caught up to Smokebeard at a campsite along Hat Creek. We were about to enter a dry stretch, so there were a lot hikers camped near the creek.

About 3 miles prior to the creek there’d been trail magic. It wasn’t your typical trail magic. There was a large bottle of Fireball whiskey, bottles of water and inside an old ammo can: shaving cream, condoms and assorted candy. The ammo can and cooler of water had labels saying “We’re no angels’. Everything was secured to the ground via a long cable and lock. The cable was even routed through the handle on the whiskey bottle.

The trail passed by Old Station, a small town with a store, post office and cafe. I hadn’t planned a resupply there, but most hikers were at least going to JJ’s Cafe for a meal, milkshake and WiFi. It was only a quarter mile off trail. The Nutella milkshake was worth it. I spent 3 hrs there, catching up on calls to family and email.

It was getting hot as we headed back to the trail, but we took another short side trail to nearby Subway Cave – a giant lava tube below ground you can walk through. The cool air inside the tube was chilling as I explored using my headlamp. By the time we emerged it was just after noon – the afternoon heat was starting and we’d be on the most notorious dry stretch in NorCal, Hat Creek Rim. I didn’t hesitate to take my shirt off and wet it in spigot in the Subway Cave parking lot. The tourists and day hikers might have thought it odd, but it was hiker trash air conditioning

One end of Subway Cave

Hat Creek Rim is a high plateau with vegetation and trees similar to the desert. Sections had been burned in a forest fire about 10 years before. It also had gorgeous views of Mt Lassen, now to our south, and Mt Shasta to the north. There was only one natural water source for nearly 40 Miles, Lost Creek.

Mt Shasta

The valley below Hat Creek Rim – desert like

As I trudged along, climbing in the heat, I finally restarted listening to Cheryl Strayed’s book Wild. I’d tried listening to it before on the trail but got annoyed with it at times. Ironically, the chapter I’d left off at was Hat Creek. As hot as it was, I had it better than Strayed did. I didn’t have to filter water out of a frog and algae-infested cattle pond. Rather there was a spring about half-way across the rim, but it was down a steep side trail. Hikers were loathe to hike such a steep trail (400 ft vertical in 1/4 mile) but it was water – a necessity. Smokebeard and I ditched our packs and just carried our water bottles down. A couple spots required scrambling with hand holds, but the spring water was cold and refreshing. — Natural springs in the middle of nowhere are still a marvel to me, especially a desert-like area. The climb back up was more challenging – we were now juggling 4 bottles full of water (nearly 9 lbs worth).

We hiked several more miles before camping near a communications relay tower. I cowboy camped on the rim edge, overlooking the valley below. There was a stunning sunset over Mt Shasta. As I nestled into my sleeping bag, watching the red lights of the wind turbines blinking on and off across the valley, I saw two satellites moving across the starry sky. Once again, life on the trail was pretty damn good.

Sunset over Hat Creek Rim & Mt Shasta